Unit 2 Improving yourself

Using language

7 Listen to the interview and choose a topic for it.

Interviewer: Honesty is a traditional value for the Chinese. Recently, one senior high school in our city developed a programme to promote honesty among its students. Today we are honoured to have with us the principal of that high school, Ms Wu Yuxian, who is the initiator of the Honesty Programme. Ms Wu, how did you go about promoting honesty at your school?

Wu: I can give a couple of examples. We first started an activity last year called the "unsupervised examination". That is, during this examination, there is no teacher present to oversee the students. Before taking the examination, students first need to sign a letter of commitment, promising to abide by the rules.

Interviewer: It's great that you trust all of your students to sit the unsupervised examination.

Wu: Well, let me clarify, it's still only some of them. In the beginning, we chose only some classes so we could get an idea if an unsupervised examination would work or not. To our surprise, it was a great success. Students generally expressed that they like this kind of examination because it's good to feel trusted and they quite enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere in the examination. In turn, they developed greater self-control. As a result, more classes will do this examination as of next term.

Interviewer: What fabulous students! Can you give any other examples from the Honesty Programme?

Wu: Yes, for instance, we have what we call the " honesty umbrella". At the start of the term, we put 200 umbrellas in the library, the canteen and the teaching buildings. Printed on each umbrella was a short statement about honesty and other values, such as "Honesty is the best policy" or "It's good to share". The result was that at the end of the term, all the umbrellas were returned in one piece. I mean not one of them had been lost or damaged.

Interviewer: That's fantastic! What else are you going to do?

Wu: We are planning to expand the programme. Take next year as an illustration. We aim to introduce the programme to another branch of the school. A culture of honesty can exist and grow in a group environment. To put it another way, everyone needs to work together to build a culture of honesty, and we need more teachers and students to join us.

Interviewer: Thank you, Ms Wu!

Wu: It's my pleasure.